2,3,6,7,10,11-hexahydroxytriphenylene (hereinafter also referred to as “HHTP”) is a compound useful as a starting material for the preparation of functional organic materials such as discotic liquid crystals.
Conventionally, HHTP has been manufactured by, for example, a method which involves trimerization of catechol using a transition metal compound (such as ferric chrolide) to give HHTP-transition metal complex(es) and/or quinone form(s) of HHTP which are subjected to a reduction process (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1993/118642).
With this method, however, it is not easy to produce HHTP with high purity, and therefore too many purification steps are required. Further, HHTP produced by this method suffers from a serious problem in that it does not exhibit desired properties as a functional organic material because of its blackened appearance. Another problem with this method is that because it uses large quantities of dangerous and environmentally hazardous transition metal compounds such as ferric chloride, a great deal of industrial effort and resources are needed for post-reaction treatment.